NETGEAR SPH101 Skype WiFi Phone

Pros: I bought this phone on sale elsewhere. I had very little problems connecting to my brother's 128 bit WEP encrypted network, after I put in the pass key. But ease of connection is the only pro I can say for this phone. And the Skype service is really irrelevant to the Pros and Cons of the phone itself.

Cons: Netgear does not make a headset for this phone. And I have tried different 2.5" headsets of different pin arrangements in an attempt to find a compatible model. No luck. The phone burns my ear as I talk. A headset is needed. Phone also eats batteries. Talk time is less than 1.5 hours. Standby time is less than 3.5 to 4 hours. Also, phone does not list networks and ask which one to connect to. It automatically connects to my neighbor's network instead of mine.

Other Thoughts: The phone is pretty. But I had rather have an ugly phone that did not burn my ear while talking. To me it is bewildering that Netgear sold this phone without providing a headset, or without at least giving a headset pin wiring diagram so that I could make my own.

Pros: Free phone call overseas! Sound quality to Japan was very good.

Cons: Battery gets hot while in use and doesn't last as long as it use to. Wife tried to roam around outside and the sound quality suffered a little.

Other Thoughts: Where can I get a replacement battery?

Pros: great skype phone. works anywhere there is access point or hot spot.

Cons: every time the batteries go dead, the phone must be setup again. There is what looks like battery charge contacts on side of phone, but there is no cradle. phone is always being left unplugged till battery drains.

Other Thoughts: probably wouldn't buy again.

Pros: Good fidelity. Good to about 75 feet from wireless router.

Cons: Short battery life (shorter than specifications... 30 to 45 minutes)
Battery meter not accurate.

Other Thoughts: Make sure you "very carefully" fill out rebate form. Known to reject rebates.

Pros: Phone has good fidelity but short battery life (less than stated).

Cons: Poor customer service see below:

"Dear Customer
Thanks you for participating in this promotion. Unfortunitely we could not honor your request..."

POST CARD FROM NETGEAR 90 day late.

Pros: The phone has great sound, is small, easy to use, and works well within 15 yards or @50 feet of a router. It is also reasonably priced and very helpful when traveling, especially overseas. Bye Bye phone cards and prepaid cell phones. Saves alot of money on phone bills. The speaker phone is loud and works well.

Cons: The battery is diseased and lasts for only about 3.5 4 hours standby and maybe 1-1.5 hour talk time. The back light does not know when to go out, even when you set it to its minumum 1 minute setting. This is likely what is draining the battery. Sometimes it stays on for 30 minutes.
No phone case comes with it and good luck trying to find a cell phone case that works with it. I looked for over a week and finally found one at a cell phone store and had to do some modifications to make it work. For the price a correct fitting case could be thrown in.
The monaural jack for an ear piece does not work any 2.5mm dual ringed or three ringed headsets I have tried and I have given up looking for one over the past 2 weeks.
The range could be improved with an external antenna.
No accessories including an extra battery or an extended life battery even exist for the phone. Why does Netgear even release a product before making accessories available?

Other Thoughts: This is a good investment if you want to start saving $ now and avoid the phone company parasites from keep sucking your $ dry from home and cell phone companies and want to avoid buying calling cards. But if you can wait 6 months to a year when they finally get some accessories and fix the battery problem and some of the software issues, you won't regret waiting.

Pros: Never EVER have to pay for cell phones bill EVER again. :)

Cons: some times the call is not of a good quality, takes time to connect, A WIRELESS Router is a MUST, Definately get a NETGEAR type
of wireless router

Other Thoughts: Hey might as well get a high end wireless router from NETG3AR n-draft gigabit kind.

Pros: First I must point out that this phone can really change your phone habits. And when you use it wisely, a reduced phone bill is absoluely available with this phone. When I opened the box and turned it on, it immediately found an open network and I could log in with my skype account name. Making calls are easy and it just works like a cell phone. It comes with a reasonable large and bright display. The quality is fine and the key buttons are functioning properly. I proceeded about 30 calls from the US to foreign skype friends and ordinary phone numbers. The connection couldn't be better. Calls to skype accounts are absolutely free. Most calls to landlines worldwide just cost me 1 US cent per minute. Unbeatable!

Cons: There are several things which need to be solved and changed. When you are out in your car and search for an open network ( works almost everywhere ), watch out the battery life. If you leave it on searching for a network, the battery is flat after an hour or so and you have no more fun with that phone. When you use this phone while you travel, a charger which can be plugged into the cigarette lighter is not available. And where can you buy a new battery for the phone? Another negative aspect of this expensive phone is the fact that it comes with a stupid ONLY 100-110 volt power charger. If Netgear claims that this phone can be used worldwide, why not supplying customers with a universal power supply ( which can be used really worldwide and a charger for the cigarette lighter? For an average price of $200 we should expect that.

Other Thoughts: I wonder if Netgear will change the power supply to a universal worldwide power charger ( won't cost more than for that cheap 100v-110v charger plus a charger for your cigarette lighter in the car.

Pros: Easy to Use, Good wireless connectivity.

Cons: Can't use skype voicemail. It Forces you to use the forwarding to other numbers which costs money. Tech support claims that this "feature" will not be added? What? Voicemail is a pretty standard feature for a phone... Right?

Other Thoughts: for your viewing pleasure:

Pros: Easy to setup, easy to use, wardrives quite well but you must log it on. Works even if signal meter has X if it's connected. (X doesn't mean it's not connected.) Bright display. Good speakerphone. Great audio, loud.

Cons: Very poor battery life just on standby, like a Win Mobile 5 PDA. 3-4 hours in my pocket and it's dead. Too stupid to sleep when no wifi available? Doesn't wake up, test wifi, go back to sleep if none available. It needs to more agressively wardrive for service on anything it finds open. Many times I log it onto a fairly strong open wifi it has ignored.

Drop in charger contacts on sides near bottom....No drop-in charger available. You fight rubber plugged USB camera jack to constantly charge it. Needs drop-in charger stand!

Long white rubber plug near top in back over speaker pulls out to reveal tiny COAX CONNECTOR for high gain external or plugin antenna! Of course, high gain wifi antenna that replaces rubber plug doesn't exist. External antenna adapter cable also doesn't exist. Why?
A real 7 dbi omni wifi antenna is quite small on 2400 Mhz. Mounted into the same rubber plug it would sure improve range.

No INCLUDED camera wrist strap for the hole already in the case.

Other Thoughts: Not bad for Ver 1.0 product.

Now, let's work on the accessories:

High Gain rubber duck antenna that plugs in where white plug covers coax connector in back and sticks up above phone, bracing itself on top to keep it from rotating.

Wrist Strap (free)

Drop In Charging stand.

Leather carrying case with locking belt clip. (Nextel i355 $30 case from Sprint works great, but is too thick.)

5AH "extended battery" so it'll run all day away from the stupid USB camera charger.

Sliding LOCK button that locks all keys/buttons so you can pocket it without it "doing something".